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Friday, December 5, 2014

Internet Service Provider

For those of you that follow this blog, sorry for the delay in posts, recently. Our internet line outside of the house broke in half in a recent winter storm and we are still without service. It is a frustrating experience when the only provider in the area is Fairpoint, who clearly does not work to try and meet customer need and return service as quickly as possible.

Here I am; a technology nerd who likes to offer free advice, tips, and tricks about using these tools with students, stuck without any connection to the world wide web. OK, I have a cell phone, but the data package is small, and ridiculously expensive if you exceed your data limit. So, what am I to do without access to the amazing online tools?

It has been an interesting experience, I now understand the frustration of students who also have no service at home for various reasons. It makes me wonder if the push for more technology in education is worth while, when the communications system is so ancient that one storm could render you without service for days, or in my case months. How can I be available to assist my students, who I've pushed to use so many online tools and expect to have classroom updates on Google classroom every night? It has been an eye opening experience to realize that there may be too much technology dependence in education. While I await Fairpiont to finally do some work, which looks like they won't do anything until spring, I need to figure out how to include technology without having access myself. Should be an interesting challenge.